


The Two Triangles

by ChaiYan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Awkward Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Reconciliation, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaiYan/pseuds/ChaiYan
Summary: The concept of love is not stable in a definition. It encapsulates a wide variety of genders, sexual orientations and romantic orientations, ages and so on. It is not a concept that is pinned down into one mould; in other words, you cannot get love right.Whatever was going through Oliver's mind when he suggested that this would be a good idea, he did not know. It was only meant to be a simple joke, where he, Cedric and Draco would flirt with the other partner's to see who could hold out the longest. It was a joke only worth forty galleons, after all. Instead, feelings are lost, ignited and sworn out from jealous gazes across the dining hall.However, what can be done when a simple joke runs out from your control? Nothing is left, except the two triangles.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Oliver Wood, Cedric Diggory/Percy Weasley, Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang/Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Oliver Wood, Harry Potter/Oliver Wood, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Marcus Flint/Percy Weasley, Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood
Comments: 43
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, okay! So I plan to be updating this every Friday or so, maybe even more frequently after next week. This is because I have my online (thanks, coronavirus) school exams to get into university so I will be focusing on those this week. However, I am too excited to start writing next week so I thought that I would bash the first chapter out tonight!

The concept of love is not stable in a definition. It encapsulates a wide variety of genders, sexual orientations and romantic orientations, ages and so on. It is not a concept that is pinned down into one mould; in other words, you cannot get love right. You can’t be graded on your understanding of what it is because we simply do not know. Despite this being the sort of idea that Percy Weasley probably thought about the meaning of love, even he did not understand it at times. It is not a thesis that one really delves into during morning breakfast or outside on the Quidditch pitch. There is one thing that everyone does understand about love though - that love is difficult. Not out of the purpose of making the action of loving someone even more difficult than it already was, Cedric, Draco and Oliver (hardly a team that one would put together at first glance) decided it was time to spice things up at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although they may not have been too cohesive, their respective partners were much more alike: all hard-working, bright, and some may (although in Percy’s case, point out) suggest that they were rather snobbish because of this. They were, on the bottom line, exactly the opposite type of people that appreciated jokes and mockery. Which is why it was a terrible idea to prank them in the first place.

Our tale begins on the Quidditch pitch, where Cedric and Oliver lingered on different halves of the pitch, both of them feeling a little disgruntled about the mix-up of who booked the pitch for practice on which day. Cedric drifted around the pitch on his broomstick, watching the clouds slither in between the gaps in the stands where his eye fell onto a small Ravenclaw sitting patiently in the stands, her fingers sliding in between the pages of Quidditch through the Ages. A small beam spread across his face at the sight of her, losing his attention on whatever drill his team was currently attempting to do. The sharp swoosh of a broomstick hurling its way through the mid-afternoon breeze and the little jab from the handle of a stick snapped Cedric away from his stares and he accusingly glared at the perpetrator, softening slightly when he realised it was Oliver Wood.

“You seem a little distracted, Cedric.” Oliver tittered, hovering a little above the Hufflepuff boy, looking over at where Cho Chang was sitting in the stands.

“Yes, of course. It is not every practice that my girlfriend agrees to come along to the Hufflepuff quidditch practice but spends so little time actually watching the quidditch itself.” Cedric chuckled, looking up at Oliver. He paused “Oh, wait. That does happen every practice.”

“That is a bit ironic considering that she also plays too. A little interest would be nice.” Oliver laughed “Still, Percy is just the same. He, on the other hand, doesn’t like quidditch so Cho doesn’t really have an excuse.” He shrugged. 

The practice for both teams was more or less over now. The flurry of yellow and red robes that darted minutes ago like kites through the breeze had slowed down to reveal the individual, flushed faces. Even from a number of metres above them, Oliver’s beady eyes could still notice the glimmer of sweat on reddened cheeks and foreheads. He laughed.

“I think practice is over now.” Cedric raised a haughty eyebrow “We were probably the only people to keep them motivated until we stopped training ourselves!” He looked up, feeling the patter of grey clouds coming over the horizon, revealing themselves from behind the Hogwarts Towers in the distance. He looked over at the stands, searching for Cho, but she had presumably gone inside because both her and the copy of Quidditch Through the Ages were gone. “What are you doing after this? Maybe we could hang out or something? I mean… considering we are not in the same year, I am not sure whether you would think that is weird.”

Oliver peered at him, frown lines forming on his forehead as he stared at Cedric “No, not at all weird. I did not have any plans after this so… yeah, I guess I am up for it. No point going back to my bedroom and trying to make conversation with Percy when he is trying to study.” He adjusted his grip on the broomstick handle. He too noticed the little shimmers of light on the wood, gritting his teeth at the sight of the quickly falling raindrops from above. “Let’s get inside. See you out there.” He gave Cedric a cheeky smile and sped off towards the tunnel leading to the cloakrooms. Cedric paused to take in what had just happened, and with a joking sigh, he flew down there too. 

When they were finished, the rain had already began to fall down in thin sheets across the courtyard, ruling out a nice walk back to school among the greenery. They strolled along the covered corridor leading up to the school, laughing.

“- And then - George hit the Bludger but then the Bludger hit one of the rings and - and it bounced off, and almost smacked him in the face again!” Oliver chortled, trying to get the words out between his giggles as they walked the long length of the corridor. Cedric’s face was pink with heat as he laughed “It was the funniest thing-”

“I can imagine - I wish we had training on the same day!” Cedric snickered “Oh, I think I’ve got a good idea…”

Oliver stopped in his tracks, raising his eyebrows hesitantly, his eyes searching Cedric curiously “Which is?”

“Why don’t we get Cho and Percy… I-If he wants to, of course…” Cedric shrugged “I know he isn’t much of a quidditch player but it could be fun.”

“He is exactly the opposite of a quidditch player!” Oliver cocked his head to the side “I don’t think he would be up to playing any kind of sports… The only time I have ever seen him ride a broom after Madame Hooch ‘s lessons in our first year…”

“That is fair enough… Actually, I sometimes wonder… not in a bad way.... But how you both are together seeing as you’re complete opposites? You’re really sporty and popular and h-he’s… not.” Cedric bit his lip as he tried to not insult Percy too much. He shrugged after the words left his mouth “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I don’t know… he’s just… perfect; he’s cute (even when he is being arrogant), he’s intelligent and he is kind… when he wants to be”. Oliver even smiled as he pictured his boyfriend in his mind “I know that you and Cho are really similar and that’s great, but opposites attract very well too.”

“Does he not get jealous the way that so many girls at Hogwarts flirt with you? It must be annoying.”

“I think so. Percy has had very little of the same treatment. Aside from Penelope Clearwater. Thank Merlin she has started to leave him alone a bit now.” Oliver paused “What about Cho?”

“What about her?”

“Doesn’t she get jealous?” Oliver took Cedric’s shoulders between his large, roughed-up hands and shook him gently “You’re quite a hit with the ladies!” He laughed, letting go of Cedric’s shoulders. 

Cedric snorted “Not at all. She knows that I would never go for anyone else but her...Not like Percy.”

“Percy hardly ever gets jealous. Cho, on the other hand… must be so annoying for her.”

“You cannot compare them! Cho is the sweetest girl ever!”

“Percy is too!”

“Yes, but he’s so pretentious that I bet he gets fuming when a girl even tries to talk to you after class.”

“Okay, Percy may be the type to get jealous easily, but he is really not.” Oliver frowned at him. They ambled along the corridor in a rather awkward silence, save for the creak of wood under their soles and a brisk breeze that meandered round their aching bodies. He didn’t notice Malfoy passing him until Draco’s shoulder banged against his chest. Shoving him out of the way with an annoyed huff, Malfoy stumbled in response “Watch it, Malfoy!” He stopped and turned to Cedric, his eyes gleaming in mischievous thought “I have an idea…”

Cedric’s eyes stayed sombre but opened slightly in curiosity “Care to tell me what it is?” 

Malfoy picked himself off the wall, stepping back to carry on his journey, hesitating and lingering around where he could hear this. This could be so interesting! Any prank on the pompous prat of a Head Boy would be hilarious… of course, he had to know the inside scoops of what the joke was… how else would he be able to see it play out?!

“I will flirt with Cho and-”

“Wait, wha-”

“Hear me out.” Oliver sighed “And you can flirt with Percy. In that way, we will see who cracks under the jealousy first. Not to mention that it will also be really funny.”

“I don’t know…” Cedric cast his eyes towards the floor. On the one hand, he agreed with Oliver that it would be very funny, but it wouldn’t be so funny for Cho. He felt a pang in his heart as he realised that she would be hurt to know that her feelings were being played around for a practical joke. “Cho would…”

“It would only be for a day, maybe.” Oliver shrugged “She can’t be hurt by something like that. If it went on for weeks, then yes, I would not do that to Percy, but it’s nothing!” He smiled encouragingly.

“Maybe I-”

“If Diggory is too chicken to do it, I’ll do it, Wood.”

Both boys turned to see Malfoy leaning coolly against the wooden walls. “What?” Cedric asked, his eyes slightly wider.

Draco rolled his eyes “I said, if Diggory is too chicken to do it, I’ll do it, Wood.”

“We heard what you said.” Oliver frowned momentarily “You really want to do it?” He paused, again “I didn’t know that you were seeing anyone, Malfoy.”

“Yeah, Potter, actually.” Malfoy pouted pretentiously “Bet you didn’t expect that, did you?”

“No,” Oliver stepped forwards and glanced Draco up and down, “I didn’t actually. However, seeing as Cedric - “He looked back at Cedric with a joking grin “does seem to be playing the chicken, sure. You can do it.” Malfoy smirked at Cedric.

Cedric huffed in annoyance “Fine, I will do it also! As long as… as long as… this only lasts for a couple of days. Maximum a couple of days.”

“So this is becoming a love triangle then?” Malfoy asked, cocking his head to the side.  
“I guess so.” Oliver hesitated for a moment as he thought long and hard “ Cedric,is it going to be Percy or Harry for you?”

Cedric threw up his hands and shrugged “I’ll go for Percy. Even the Head Boy won’t be even to resist some Diggory charm.” He smiled sweetly. Oliver laughed, responding with a quiet “Oh, you would be surprised.”

“I guess that leaves me with Cho, and Wood with Harry. “ Malfoy laughed snarkily, his eyes crinkling “That will be interesting, especially since you, Percy and Harry are all in Gryffindor together. I bet you didn’t think about that, did you, Wood?” The latter question dropped the rude tone and actually sounded as if he was trying to make a joke. “Oh, and… we all put twenty galleons in. The partner that lasts the longest resisting the other wins, and the winner takes all.” Cedric and Oliver nodded in compliance, wicked grins settling across their faces.

“Being in the same house cannot be helped. It’ll be interesting, yes.” Oliver shrugged. He looked at Cedric whose head jolt ushered him towards the school “I-I will see you tomorrow morning then. Let’s say that it can begin then, okay?” Cedric and Draco nodded. Draco wandered off down the corrdor, disappearing from view once he was away from the school, a large grin spread across his face. 

“It definitely will be interesting. That’s an understatement. I wouldn’t expect too many outbursts from Cho, however. My heart may be bisexual, but it only holds her. Percy and Draco on the other hand… Well, I would expect some sparks to fly for them against you and Malfoy.” Cedric began to walk again to make way for Oliver.

Oliver walked up to his speed “I would not be so cocky if I were you, Diggory. You’re beginning to remind me a little of Percy, I must say.” They both laughed before the sounds slowly faded against the breeze. 

Cedric’s eyes flashed up at Oliver, grey clashing with a deep brown as they entered the castle, leaving the wind outside. Their flushed cheeks embrace the heat as they smirked at each other. They did part ways when they got to the staircase, but yet their minds shared the same ideas, same fantasies, and the same adrenaline for what was to come tomorrow.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the games begin...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, this whole plot takes place around the time of the Prisoner of Askaban as that is the only time when they are all together in the school. I know Cedric and Cho get together in GoF, but don't @ me.

“Must you come back to the dorm clunking all your Quidditch things about and making so much noise? It is actually quite disturbing to some of us who wan-” Percy’s whiny voice was cut short by the louder Scotsman.

“Okay, Okay. Sorry then, I guess” Oliver threw down his kit on top of his bed and shoved his broomstick by his bedside drawer, much to the audible disapproval of his boyfriend “I will clean it later, but right now, I really cannot be bothered.” Percy sighed, his eyes flashing darkly and returning to his book. Oliver gave the back of his head a half-hearted smile and wandered over to him, resting his chin amongst the flurry of ginger hair, to which Percy shuddered a little. Oliver smiled, kissing beneath his hair and wrapping his long arms around Weasley’s thin frame. 

“I’m trying to read-” Percy’s voice was gruff, but soft.

Oliver chuckled deeply “And I am trying to show you how much I love you so you won’t be annoyed at me throwing my Quidditch stuff on the bed. You know, with it being all muddy and sweaty and -” 

“Okay, that’s enough. But you had better not get any of that mud or sweat on my half of the bed or you are sleeping on your own tonight. I’m not sleeping there if you have made a mess of it.” Percy sighed, putting down his book slowly and removing his horn-rimmed glasses, placing them on the desk accordingly. He swivelled his head round, catching Oliver’s sweet lips in a kiss. The pangs of sore redness cascaded on the bridge of his nose where the glasses had dug in tightly to his milky skin. Percy smiled standing up and removing his shoes to begin getting ready for bed. He saw the state of the bed and frowned at Oliver darkly “I am not sleeping in that.” He pointed in the direction of a sweaty and dirty cloak thrust carelessly on top of the sheets, staining their whiteness with brown marks. 

“Okay, fine. How about I take a shower and then sleep in your bed?” Oliver sighed, shoving the offending cloak into his washbasket. 

Percy turned round swiftly to look at him “Wash yourself thoroughly then.” He pouted, slinking into his own bed as he watched Oliver chuckle and leave the dorm room.

It only took around ten minutes for the dorm room to open again. As Oliver and Percy were indeed the only 2 Gryffindor 7th years, this at least allowed for both extra privacy as well as extra freedom. Oliver changed into his pajamas and joined Percy in bed. He sighed happily as the warmth of the bedcovers wrapped around his body and coaxed Percy in, wrapping his arms around Weasley and snuggling his face into the back of his neck, allowing himself to drift off to sleep.

Vivid blushes of bright yellow and coral faded across the sky as the sun rose, waking Percy as the sunlight streamed its rays through the window, causing his eyelids to prickle a little. He yawned, rolling over onto his other side and flopping his arm out to cross Oliver’s sleeping body. His limp arm slapped tepid covers and it was his boyfriend’s absence that caused him to open his eyes fully.

“...ug-ggugh… Ollie…” He groaned, his mind and body still beaten down with exhaustion and sleepiness. He closed his eyes again as a big figure blocked out the sunlight, leaning down and letting Percy feel the minty breath waft across his skin.  
The figure kissed him gently, “Time to get up, baby.” 

Sitting in the Great Hall was one way to make someone who was not such a morning person wake up fully. There was a thundering chatter especially from the first and second-years about their jokes and lessons. On the other hand, tired senior-years did not share the same enthusiasm. Oliver was the exception to this: since last night’s conversation with Cedric and Draco, he had been buzzing to begin this plan. 

Although it was a rule at Hogwarts that students of the same house had to sit on the same bench for meals, it was not really attended to. Couples preferred to sit by themselves on a table corresponding at least to someone’s house. Indeed, this was not a problem for Oliver and Percy as it was for the other two. However, no one said anything about inter-house couples sitting together, so it was fine.

He had hardly slept last night but the sight of seeing Cedric with Cho on his arm, and Draco wandering in looking for Harry made a fresh spurt of energy burst in his veins. Oliver glanced back at Percy, who was mindlessly pushing around a poached tomato on his fork. His boyfriend was arguably still half-asleep, not really caring about talking; at least, he would not be energetic enough to be talking to any until classes began. He glanced back at Cedric, before turning his eyes to Draco. Cedric, like Oliver, had hardly slept but was also excited for the plan; however, there was still a part of him that thought they were fools for going through with it. It was the case that everyone knew that there was an unwritten rule at Hogwarts: Don’t mess with the Quidditch Captains’ partners. For TWO of the captains to be pulled into this… Cedric rightfully was wary of how messy this would get. Draco, on the other hand, did not seem to be showing any sort of care towards any anger Harry would conjure if he saw Draco flirting with Cho. 

Draco, stood up slowly, excusing himself from Crabbe and Goyle. Cedric saw him move out of the corner of his eye and hastily turned back to Cho. “I-I need to go and ask Percy something… I will be right back.” He got out of the bench with a small smile.

“What do you need to talk to him for?” Cho looked up at him curiously, “I have never seen you two even talk before?” She took a piece of toast off the rack with one hand, placing it down on a plate before reaching for the marmalade.

“Just … Uh… something about homework from our Potions class… You know, Percy… always getting full marks in every exam and piece of homework we have… Yeah…” Cedric tailed off, quickly trying to muster the blushing heat that he felt on his cheeks. 

“W-Well, alright then.” Cho gave a small laugh and turned back to spreading marmalade on her toast. Cedric gave a small sigh of relief to himself as he slowly began to wander over to the Gryffindor table.

Oliver blinked as he saw Cedric approaching “U-Uh, I have to talk to Potter. Bye!” He babbled out and left, leaving Percy to look up and see no one there in confusion. 

“Bye then?” Percy tailed off, looking up as another cloaked figure took the seat in front of him. To his surprise, it was Cedric, which was strange seeing as the two of them had hardly spoken to each other before. “Cedric?” He said, his voice laced in haughtiness.

“Hey there, Perce…” Cedric smiled until he saw the other boy frown at him “...-cey… How are you doing?”

“Uh, I am fine. Is there something you need?” Percy asked, raising an offending eyebrow. 

Cedric hesitated, trying to think quickly of how he could respond “Yeah… I was just… hoping that we could get to know each other more. I know that you and Oliver are very close-”

“He is my boyfriend.”

“Okay, okay.” Cedric brushed that away “Well, i just want to get to know a … boyfriend of a friend.” He gave him a sheepish smile, hoping to arouse some sort of enthusiasm from Percy.

“Fair enough.” Percy answered shortly, pushing his glasses up his nose to glance at Cedric more. 

“You look intelligent with glasses on. It’s cute.” Cedric simpered, to which Percy’s cheeks flushed red “Oh, don’t be embarrassed.” Percy glanced up to look where Oliver had abandoned him for, looking round and seeing him sitting next to Potter, laughing. 

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” Percy turned himself back to Cedric, narrowing his eyes accusingly.

“Yes, but she won’t mind.” Cedric flashing a charming smile, breaking through a tad of the marble surface caked around Percy’s heart. Percy looked down at his food, his small face burning with embarrassment and a strange sort of delight at being complimented. 

“Ah, well… Thank you… I guess… “ The words fell out of his mouth, perhaps this being one of the few moments where he was deemed completely speechless. The softness of his grey eyes and the lightness of his smile contrasted with Cho’s angry frown. She stared at them from across the Ravenclaw table, a small scowl set in stone. Why was Cedric being so friendly and possibly… flirty… with someone who he had never met. She knew it shouldn’t tick her off… but every time she looked over and saw Cedric grin and Percy blush, a whirlwind of thoughts clouded her brain. She put it all down to being overprotective over being the girlfriend of the school heart-throb. 

“Look at them…”She muttered quietly to herself “How often is he so bubbly when he is around me.”

“That must be annoying.” A voice snapped her back into reality. Across from her, the snarky face of Draco Malfoy was sitting, casually snaking his arm over to grab at a green apple from the basket.

“O-Oh... “ She went a little pale, having been taken aback at his sudden appearance “Draco… Hi.”

“Good morning.” Draco smirked, taking a small bite into the apple. There was one way that he was going to push Cedric and Cho out of the equation; he had this strategy planned out in his head since last night. He looked past her to see that Weasley and Diggory were still talking with each other. “Oh, Cedric is your boyfriend, isn’t he?” Of course, Draco already knew that, but anything to get Cho to be more sulky would be a bonus. Draco’s strategy: push out as much attention on the fact that Cedric was flirting with Percy, and let Cho’s jealousy do the rest. “I never knew that he and Percy were friends…”

“I did not think they were either,” Cho raised her eyebrows “ but they seem to be getting along like a house on fire.”

“I can understand why Weasley looks so flustered…” Draco smirked “It is not easy to keep a cool composure as he always seems to want to do whilst the school golden boy is flirting with you.”

“Cedric isn’t flirtin-”

“What did he say he was going to talk to Percy about?”

“...Potions homework…”

“No one can have that smile when talking about Potions homework.” Draco cocked his head to the side.

“Yes, you’re right… but why would Cedric l-lie to me?” Cho looked down at the untouched piece of toast lying sadly on her plate.

“He is not going to tell you directly that he is leaving you to eat by yourself in order to go and flirt with another guy’s boyfriend, is he?” Draco crunched on the apple, his lips alight with the bitter juice oozing across his skin. “I know what you could do.” Gosh, he really hoped Harry would be a good person at concealing jealousy at this idea “Pretend that you are flirting with me. Then the tables will turn and he will be all over you again.” Draco shrugged.

Cho’s eyes widened “You really think that could work?” She glanced behind herself where Cedric’s hands had danced over onto Percy’s side of the table.

“Of course.”

“Well. if you are sure then… okay.” Cho smiled, blushing faintly and placing her hand on the table, a couple of centimetres from where Draco’s lay. “Won’t Harry mind?”

“Certainly not. He is too engaged with Wood talking about Quidditch tactics to care.” Draco smirked again, glancing over at Harry. Well, he thought to himself, I should bloody hope that he is too engaged to see me flirting with Cho.

Indeed, Harry had noticed and despite Wood beginning to get a little too enthusiastic about marking out how the Chasers would meander the spectator towers to score past the other team’s defence. He quietened Wood for just a second with a brush of his hand, and both of them peered towards the Ravenclaw girl and the Slytherin boy.

“That is a bit weird…” Harry muttered “Since when did Cho and Draco talk?” He looked at Ron “Draco is GAY. “

“Well, he was gay the last time you heard.” Ron grinned, nonchalantly eating a yoghurt. 

“Ron, Malfoy is my boyfriend. So yes, I do know that he is gay.”

“Then why are you having so much trouble seeing Draco talk to Cho? It is not as if he will be interested in her.” Hermione shrugged, looking over at the two of them also.

“Unless…” Ron grinned 

“Unless?”

“Unless Harry is getting a little bit overprotective of Malfoy. Do I hint a bit of jealousy, Harry?” Ron looked at Hermione with a knowing smile.

“I mean, I left to go and talk with you around the same time and they seemed to be talking pretty well.” Oliver’s veins filled with a rushing glee, knowing that he was in fact, bending the truth a little here. 

“Should I go and mention it to him?” Harry turned back to his friends.

Oliver shook his head “He will just get defensive about it. I would say you just leave it.” 

“If Draco is flirting with someone that is not his boyfriend, it probably is best to say something about it, Oliver.” Hermione furrowed her eyebrows “I can’t believe that they are just getting along … just like that… as if they have known each other for a long time.” Oliver stifled his thoughts, wishing that Ron and Hermione would stop talking and let him get on with the mission.

“Does Harry really want to start something now though? You don’t know that they are flirting. Like you said, Draco is gay so it may not be anything to worry about.” Oliver picked off a grape from its stem in the basket. He, unlike Draco, was going for a different game plan. By reassuring Harry that nothing was happening between Draco and Cho, Harry would bottle up the anger and jealousy until he burst. He knew that would not take long. And then, by the end, he and Percy would be forty galleons richer. It was a foolproof plan!, he thought to himself. 

However, when Oliver had gathered up his things to leave, he coaxed Harry along too. This drew eyes: firstly, that Harry was leaving without Draco and was rather cosying up to his Gryffindor best friends. Secondly, Oliver was -

“Not waiting for me?” Percy glanced up as he saw Oliver get out of the bench and throw a friendly arm around Harry. “I guess he must be in a rush to get to class.”

“Do you both not have the same class this morning?” Cedric’s eyes twinkled happily, deciding to steal this opportunity. 

“Yes, we have Transfiguration with Professor McGonagoll this morning together.” Percy raised one eyebrow haughtily “He might have thought to wait for me! Then again, I suppose he was rather rushing about his Quidditch game plans to Potter and my little brothers. It is no big matter.”

Cedric bit his lip “Well-”

“I will see you around, Cedric. Thank you for the good conversation.” Percy smiled sincerely, before getting up and leaving Cedric by himself to wander swiftly out of the Great Hall. Cedric sighed - why had such a great time been cut short? It was only perhaps at the sight of Oliver leaving that had grabbed Percy’s attention amongst the whole time Oliver was talking to Harry...Of course he would not have thought Oliver and Harry talking would be a big deal - let alone it being labelled as flirting! Being in the same house and the same Quidditch team would hardly be enough for talking at breakfast to ignite any sort of suspicion. Even if Percy did hoard a bit of jealousy from both girls and boys trying to ask Oliver on a date before they had gone public with their relationship.

Cedric glanced behind himself to spot Draco and Cho in deep conversation about something he couldn’t hear. His eyes flashed darkly at Draco, feeling a prick of frustration lodge itself in his heart at the sight of them. Draco looked back at him, keeping one eye still on Cho. They looked each other up and down accusingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter, please comment something nice! I would love to hear some thoughts back :)
> 
> MY UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMS ARE DONE!!


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh no... Percy's eyes have wandered... and Draco is trying to keep Cho inside the boundaries
> 
> It is my birthday tomorrow aghh!! (22/5)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, this whole plot takes place around the time of the Prisoner of Askaban as that is the only time when they are all together in the school. I know Cedric and Cho get together in GoF, but don't @ me.

Draco sauntered along the corridor, Cho on his arm, and big smiles on both of their faces. Ever since he had started talking with the Ravenclaw, he had learned quickly that actually, she was a sweet girl. Part of him regretted this whole ordeal, but it should be over soon, right? No harm done. They sat down in one of the window seats overlooking the swirling staircase. Cho adored this spot: the picturesque view over the central grassy square of the school, where the clouds hung low and drifted about in the horizon. There was no such view at this time of year: Dark British skies cascaded the landscape, flummoxed solely by thick snow that danced onto the dampening stones. Inside, the rolling fires blessed the students with a roaring heat that spread both physically and mentally with all. In the sky, the moon hung as a pearly orb that swept the windows with a soft white light, until it was smothered by the bubbling firelight.

Like the outside winter and the inside fire, Draco’s cold hands felt helpless against the pad of Cho’s warm fingers that gently stroked the epidermis of his wrists. However, Draco did realise that whilst he was pretending to not be interested in Harry, there were boundaries that he also hoped that Cho, in his distraction from Cedric, would also remember that she fundamentally belonged to someone else. In this moment, he disregarded the thought.

Looking out of the window, he beamed at the night sky before turning back to her, noticing how her eyes softened “It is really beautiful tonight, isn’t it?”

“It is mine and Cedric’s anniversary today.” She said, deflecting his question, staring sadly at Draco instead. Draco’s breath hitched, his eyes widening, and his mouth opening slightly.

“O-Oh…” He didn’t know what else to say.

“That’s why I am worried if he is talking to someone else. Never mind that it’s Percy, but I would have thought he wanted to pay a little more attention to me… It is as if … he wants nothing to do with me. Do you think that’s true?” Cho inquired, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“I don’t know” Gosh, although Cho was clearly becoming jealous (Draco wanted this anyway - it was the whole purpose of the plan!), it was becoming a little tedious and boring. He struggled with what to say. He swallowed the lump of guilt in his throat and pressed on “He is probably planning something for tonight.” Oh yes, she would rage when she found out that he was probably trailing after Percy this evening instead of spending time with her!

“Well, I don’t know why you came to talk with me, Draco… but thank you.” Cho smiled at him “It’s certainly nice to have you around as soon as Cedric seems to be more … occupied.”

Draco nodded along with her “You two will be back together again in no time ... “ He paused “Don’t worry about it.” She squeezed his hand and stood up again.

“You’re right. It is a beautiful night tonight…” Cho simpered, letting her hand raise and fall against the window panes, the edges where the stonework met the dusted glass. Draco stood up, pressing his hand against the glass where Cho’s lay also. His eyes swivelled to her, filling with sparks of light, letting her head turn upwards to meet his own. Without a word, he let his hand slide down to rest across her hand, feeling the warmth burn through his palms. Draco took Cho’s hand, pulling her down the stairs as the rumble of students starting to stroll through the halls told them that classes were over. They rushed down the stairs, their shoes slapping the stone floors, shattering the beams of moonlight.

Although it had been tedious fun for the first day or so, Percy quickly came to the conclusion that flirting, if one could call it that, with Cedric, was more annoying now. It was not just annoying either, but blatantly boring. There was so little excitement to it that when Cedric repeatedly chuckled and complimented his glasses or his rosy skin, Percy found he could do little more than murmur a gracious “thank you” and move swiftly along. He seemed to spend much of the day after pondering on this thought by himself. With a nifty thwack to someone’s shoulder and his ears picking up a low growl, he snapped out of this daydream and cast his eyes upwards in embarrassment. His breath hitched, knowing that he should have recognised the shoes, muttered a tender apology and sped away back to Gryffindor Tower rather than stay there staring at Marcus Flint’s glaring expression like a lemon. Flint’s eyes were fixated on him like a dog to a bone, a quite accurate metaphor for the likes of him and Percy. 

“Watch where you’re bloody going, Weasel. I-”

Without a thought, Percy began to let out a torrential babble, draining Flint’s sharp expression. Flint made him feel weak. “I-I am sorry, I really am. I just-” He didn’t notice how this glare on the larger male’s face had shifted to a manner of disgust.

“For fuck’s sake, calm down, you idiot.” Flint sneered, cutting him off. Percy breathed out, biting his lip all of a sudden; he went to open his mouth but shut it sharply as Flint moved his hand to stop him “Don’t talk, it’s irritating when you do that.” He paused, his mouth curling into a smirk “I haven’t seen you hanging out with Wood today, or yesterday. Some people have been speculating that if you two don’t see each other twenty-four seven, then it is a sign you’ve broken up. Did he finally dump you after realising you’re a whiny snob? I wondered how long that would take him, but now that he has finally found out, good for him.” In disgust and offence, Percy’s mouth dropped open, his cheeks flushing scarlet in frustration.

“What? No!” He shot back. Shifting his weight from foot to foot, he cast his eyes upwards, ignoring how even with a simple frown, Flint’s piercingly dark eyes pulsed with venom.

“What happened then? Everyone is talking about it.”

Percy’s chest swelled in indignation “Everyone is most certainly not talking about it. Even if they were, they ought not to, considering it is business between Oliver and I.” He said in a particularly surly tone.

Marcus sighed, raking a hand through his hair, glancing down at him with a minimalist hint of sympathy “Being dumped is nothing to be ashamed of, you know. Well, not for you considering we all expected it sometime soon-”

“Wait - what?”  
“Okay - but -” Percy leaned against the wall, cocking up his right eyebrow snootily. Marcus scoffed, leaned against the wall on his side to face Percy, but slamming his forearm against the wall by the smaller boy’s head, making him flinch. He laughed “Oliver is - dareisay - popular. You are not. You are both, to me, insufferable human beings and I hate you both more than I have ever hated anyone (and I hate a lot of people). However, people actually like Oliver, whilst they do not like you.” He noticed Percy’s scowl at him suddenly, but sighed, his voice dropping to a soft mutter “Look, you are just different people… So… Look on the bright side.”

Percy retained his stealthy glare as he uttered “ There is no bright side to your so-called boyfriend flirting with someone else, and then someone else saying that it is because he wants to break up with me!” in a pompous tone.

“Before you interrupted me, I was going to say that the bright side is that you’re single now, and can find someone who is… more like you.” Marcus shrugged.

“No! No, I am not going to go and do that.” Percy folded his arms, thinking a little “You’re going to help me.” He announced pridefully.

“Firstly, help you with what? Secondly, no, I will not.” Marcus sneered, turning to begin the walk back to the Slytherin dorms.

“What do you want?” Marcus heard as he turned his back, rolling his eyes at Percy’s whiny voice, turning back around again and looking down at him with the same old glare. Percy gave him a mischievous smile, an eye-glint that he had never seen before, and Marcus felt rather intrigued “Prefect’s bathroom?”

“So I can use the Prefect’s bathroom just because I am helping you with you and Oliver’s lovers’ tiff?” He scoffed, but thinking about it, it did seem like a generous idea. The whole year in the luxury of heated floors, uncrowded changing areas and numerous showers that were surely a couple two many for the small Prefect team. An opportunity like this would not come by again, and Marcus did yearn for the privilege “Okay.”

“Wait, you’ll do it?” Percy’s grin flashed across his face.

“In return for use of the Prefect’s bathroom for the rest of the year, yes.” Marcus tailed off into a sigh. His mouth quivered, as if he wanted to say something gleefully, but after a short moment, he fastened his lips into a small smile at the Weasley before it promptly vanished again. With a burst of energy, he lunged at Percy, gripping his arm and beginning to tug him along the corridor. Indeed, Percy, not expecting this, responded with a startled yelp as he tried to manage his books, trying to stop them slipping out his hands in a helplessly slow reaction.

As Marcus dragged him towards Gryffindor Tower, Percy’s elbow languidly banged into Draco’s shoulder, but there was no apology following. After all, Draco did not scare Percy as Marcus Flint did; the man terrorised Percy for years and had only seemed to retreat back to friendship with Pucey and Higgs. Draco scoffed as he felt the pang of pain in his shoulder, but a sharp glare at the perpetrator made him do a double take. He pulled Cho close, making sure that she did not swing around and see what he had just seen, making a mental note to find Oliver as soon as he could. He would go to the Gryffindor common room as soon as he saw Cho off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this chapter, please comment something nice! I would love to hear some thoughts back :)


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is all starting to fall apart as Draco tells Oliver what he thinks of Percy's plans... and Harry has an idea...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised how screwed the timeline is of this story compared to canonverse. It isn't until Cho's 5th Year that she starts dating Cedric and even starts talking to Harry. I just made it so that Cedric and Cho are dating a year beforehand, and the two other couples are dating for several months already. However, we can assume that they somewhat know of each other at this point. Well, he somewhat knows of her, because everyone knows who Harry Potter is...
> 
> I should clarify:
> 
> SEVENTH YEAR- Percy, Oliver, Marcus 
> 
> FIFTH YEAR - Cedric, Fred, George 
> 
> FOURTH YEAR - Cho (yes, as I surprisingly just found out, she is not in the same year as Harry)
> 
> THIRD YEAR - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco
> 
> SECOND YEAR - Ginny

Draco waited outside the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitories, waiting for his opportunity to grab an unsuspecting first year and lunge in after they said the password, hopefully making it to Oliver before Percy would return. His hopes were, of course, that Percy would not return for a long time. However, Malfoy still felt jittery with nerves, looking in both directions down the corridors, wiping his oncoming sweat onto his robes. Despite being enemies with any Gryffindor, the only exception being Harry and to some extent, Ron and Hermione, he did still have bones of morality that screamed that it was the right thing for Oliver to know. He just wished that Gryffindor students wouldn’t take so bloody long to get back to their dormitories after commitments. 

Keeping his head down, his ears pricked up at the faint sound of chatter coming down the hallway, approaching him. Looking up, his pale eyes flashed happily, recognising the red and black robes that he had yearned for a long time to see. The group of students, initially not noticing him until they met face-to-face with the portrait of the Fat Lady, cautiously nodded at the infamous Draco Malfoy. A couple of them gestured and nudged each other, smirks branching across their faces with silent signals and jokes, their innocent little bright eyes widening. 

Stepping forth, a thin, wiry second-year boy waited for the “Password?” to speak from the painting, before his eyes swivelled suspiciously to Malfoy “Wattlebird.” He spat out quickly, as if he was trying to say it too quickly for Draco to note down.

Draco’s face did not contort to a scowl as it normally would have done, but he patiently waited, body feeling as if it were about to lurch off a knife edge. He glanced as the Fat Lady flung herself open, revealing the passageway down to the common room. In a split- second, he had shoved past a lanky blonde Gryffindor girl, ignoring her yelp as she suddenly fell back into her friend’s arms, and barged his way into the common room. He swallowed his pride, hanging back, glaring back at the group of people who he had just shoved past. Such a group didn’t notice him hanging back before the shadows, continuing on into the common room, their noisy laughter flaring up again.

Inside, he noticed how different the atmosphere of the Gryffindor common room was in comparison to the Slytherin one. The blaze in the fireplace lit the room alight, just as the laughter and shouts of the students filled the room with a glowing atmosphere, rallying around each other and eating snacks or telling jokes. No one sat apart in small groups huddling about and whispering about gossip as what happened in the Slytherin common room. Even many of the first year Slytherin students made it their own unwritten rule never to spend time in the common room if they could help it, for fear of running into the older students. Here, the youngest students and the oldest students were conversing brightly, their friendly bonds never broken by a six or seven year age gap. He could spot Harry, Ron, Hermione and those Weasley twins gathered on a sofa, rusty-red material with a crimson throw-over to keep them warm in the harsh winter months. Although he did love seeing his lover, it pained Draco to know that he wasn’t to interact with Potter if he was going to win against the others. He grinded his bottom row of teeth against the inside of his lip, struggling to think of an idea how to get to, or at least find, Wood’s dorm. Whilst the common room was filled with an overwhelmingly chaotic atmosphere, a Slytherin student sneaking through its midst was comparable to raising a lamb for slaughter. 

As if Lady Luck herself was shining down on him, a couple of younger Gryffindor students came crowding into the room, babbling and giggling as if they had eaten too much sugar. As they entered, the immense fiery heat of the fire washed over them, arousing a number of complaints and breathless sighs as they flung their robes and jumpers off. Fortunately for Draco, one of these robes fluttered off the nearby chair that the boy had meant to throw it onto, and slid near his feet. Draco blinked, startled, bending down and cautiously tugging at the material, praying that no one would see as he shoved it on top of his green robes. Hitching his breath sharply, he stepped a foot into the room, his pace quickening as he sauntered through the room, meandering round clusters of people, sharply turning to follow a group of boys heading up the staircase. At least, he presumed that this staircase led to the dormitories. 

His heavy breaths broke the shocking quietness of the upstairs, hot air bouncing off his chest as he tried to shake off the nerves, pressing his head back against the stone walls. He saw two corridors before him: one turning to the left, the other, to the right. Taking a chance, he walked down the corridor to the right, his eyes flickering up at the signs on the doors. 1st Year, 2nd Year… What year were Oliver and Percy in again?... 5th Year… Wait, were they in seventh year? Percy was Head Boy, if he hadn’t told you already, and they were seventh years. Draco tittered at his own ignorance, almost walking straight past the door labelled 7th Year. He opened the door, an inch, peering into the light of the bedroom, watching carefully for anyone to surprise him. Luckily, he saw Oliver laying on his bed with a small notebook, jotting down strategies for tomorrow’s practice.

“Oliver, Oliver Wood…” Draco hissed, clawing his hand round the edge of the door, slinking his way into the room, hopefully unnoticed. Thankfully, he could spot that Oliver was the only person in the room.

Oliver looked up sharply, propping his broomstick by his bed at the call, eyes swivelling towards the door “What? D-Draco?” He exclaimed, wandering over to the door and opening it more “What in Merlin's name do you think you are doing? Come in here, now!” Draco stumbled in, a little taken aback by the other’s sudden anger. 

“O-Oh, I…” He tailed off, realising that his mind had gone completely devoid of the English language.

Oliver furrowed his eyebrows, sitting on his bed, a faint frown branching out over his face “Come on, what is it?”

“I-I think Percy is cheating on you with-”

“What?!”

“- Flint.” Draco sighed.

“Percy is not a cheater. He hasn’t even cheated on any exam ever.” Oliver scoffed “You shouldn’t say things like that, Malfoy. How dare you! You say with Flint too? Bullshit. Percy knows that he is the one person who I hate the most, and you come in here spouting all these lies?”

“I am not lying!” Draco shot back.

“How do I know that?”

“Look, I have no solid proof, but I saw them together and -”

“That means nothing!”

“Will you listen to me? I was seeing Cho back to the Ravenclaw Tower and he was talking to Marcus a-and Marcus was basically pinning him against the wall and -” Draco was forced to swallow a smirk soaring across his face as he saw Oliver’s cheeks beginning to blush. What fun would it be to cause a little more drama than already needed? He could see all the pieces starting to come together in his mind - Oliver would get angry at Percy - they would break up - and then they would both be out of the game! “- and Percy, well…” Draco snorted “Percy was blushing.” That may have been a little bending of the truth, Draco could agree “Then, before we knew it, Marcus had dragged Percy away.”

Oliver’s jaw had fallen a good few centimetres after listening to the story. He did not want to believe that Percy would try and get with someone else, especially seeing as pretty much every student knew he was Oliver’s, but doubts were sprouting in his mind. He swallowed the lump in his throat, blinking a couple times, his voice rough and hoarse as he spoke “Well, what do you think I should do about it?”

Draco scoffed “Well, I am glad you asked me that... Give him the cold shoulder. He is going to look down on someone who comes sniffling to him for forgiveness that he hangs out with Potter more.”

“Wait, you don’t think Percy thinks what I am doing is flirting?”

“Of course not, he assumes that you’re talking about Quidditch or something. It is nothing out of the ordinary anyway. Let Percy come back begging on his knees for you, not the other way round.”

“R-Right, well… Thank you for telling me this, Draco.” He spat.

“No problem!” Draco turned to leave, not sure how long it would take for one of the other boys to come back and spot him in the dorm “Oh, and Oliver?”

“What?”

“I heard Marcus saying that he is going to start meeting Percy more often. That is a little strange, don’t you think?” Draco cackled, hastily running out of the door, slamming it behind him before Oliver had a single chance to process what was going on.

Oliver slumped down against his bed, his mind completely blank, blood frozen at what he had just heard within the past ten minutes. Whilst he could take Draco’s advice to act further with Potter, there was a pang in his heart about the whole situation. Although Percy was essentially cheating on him, he thought, Oliver was the person who drove the wedge between them to make him seek Marcus’ company. Why had Percy not chosen to get closer with Cedric? More importantly, why Marcus? Was Percy jealous enough to seek a person who Oliver would get jealous of? Probably. Oliver lay there against the covers, suddenly a million thoughts whizzing through his mind, quick as lightning before disappearing in a cloud of doubt. He got up, sauntering out of the room swiftly, eyes glued to the floor. As he passed Percy’s bed, with all his possessions neatly tidied on his desk, unlike Oliver’s whose pile of paper and books looked as if it had been organised via an electric fan. He blinked, a sad smile coming over his face. His lips tightened, pressed together in a thin line. Eyes darkening, an immense focus making the small pricks of light wallow in an oaky ocean. 

Fine, if Percy wanted to get back at him like this, in such an unfair way, Oliver would make HIM crawl back to his mercy. He would play the game that he started in the first place.

\------------------------------------------------------

Harry was curious why he had not met with Draco for a while - sure - they had classes together - but they were only Potions and Transfiguration and DADA and Charms - all where they didn’t sit together. His mind wandered back to the last memory they had, where he and Draco were wandering the halls before supper, him seeing off Draco as Draco left to go down to the Qudditch pitch to fetch some new gear. His mind could not help but not gloss over the fact that Draco had not even bothered to send him a note, which was strange considering Draco, especially during class, sent them frequently. Now, he wandered the halls towards Gryffindor Tower that evening, his mind solely on his love, eyes dancing between the walls and the floor.

His train of thought was suddenly diminished as his arm collided with someone’s shoulder, making them yelp out in shock and pain “O-Oh, sorry!” His eyes snapped to Cho, who was shrugging, massaging her shoulder gently “I didn’t see you there, Cho. I wasn’t - uh- thinking straight.”

“Clearly.” She said shortly, a frown appearing “Oh, by the way-” She cut in, just as Harry was about to continue on his way “Have you seen Draco around recently?”

“To be honest, not really…” Harry admitted.

“Oh, never mind then.” Cho grimaced, biting her lip “I was hoping that he would walk me to supper. He said he would anyway, when he saw me off at the Ravenclaw Tower.” 

Harry’s heart stopped for a second “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, he said he would walk me to dinner.” Cho cocked her head to the side “Y-You don’t mind, do you, Harry?”  
“Normally, I would, because I know Draco has a bit of a reputation for being a womanizer. Nowadays, I really don’t know.” Harry sighed, eyes falling to the floor again, partly in shame.

“What happened?”

“He suddenly stopped speaking to me, a couple days ago. I haven’t had the chance to speak to him at all.” Harry gritted his teeth, just thinking about it “Wait, you and Draco aren’t friends are you? I mean, were you friends before he stopped talking to me?”

“Well, he first started to talk with me at breakfast three days ago. Cedric had just gone to talk to Percy and -”

“PERCY? I don’t think I have ever seen them talking before…”

“Yeah, neither have I.” Cho raised her eyebrows “Then, Draco just came over and started talking to me.”

“This is all very strange…” Harry muttered “So both our boyfriends have started talking to people that they have never spoken with before… let alone been friends with… I don’t understand what is going on…” He sighed - it was almost like Draco was trying to make him jealous or something by flirting with Cho. Wait. His heart stopped a second time as an idea flew into his head.

“I know, I wish Cedric would talk to m-”

“How would you feel about going on a date? D’you think... D’you think you would mind?” Harry cut her off, the thought glimmering in his brain, its spark too precious to forget.

“H-Huh?”

Harry rushed in again “N-Not a real one… I know… You are with Cedric… but I just had an idea of how we can get them to interact with us again.”

“To fake date? What would that do?”

Harry smirked “If they see us on a date, rather than just flirting as they have been doing with you and Percy, they will get jealous and want us back.”

Cho’s eyes widened for a second “That’s a great idea!” Her face broke into a smile “This weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend... It will be a perfect opportunity.”

Harry nodded. The air shifted suddenly, becoming a little awkward as they stood there, toothy grins at each other, not talking. Harry broke his gaze down to his shoes again “I-I guess it’s a date then?”

Cho beamed “Of course.” She hesitated, her eyes beginning to gleam in the hazy firelight “I am looking forward to it.” With a slight giggle, she brushed past him, the soles of her shoes slapping against the floor loudly on the way to the dining room, create echoes that swirled in the air. Harry continued on his journey back to Gryffindor.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The drama reaches breaking point with Percy and Oliver... and Cedric has an idea.

Percy sat at dinner quietly that evening, ignoring that Harry and Oliver had oh-so-conveniently sat a couple of places away from him, whilst his three brothers and sister sat in between them, fairly oblivious to the recent events. He picked at his food, sliding around a couple vegetables with his fork, pushing them into the sauce and watching them wallow there helplessly. His ears pricked up at the sound of Oliver’s deep, booming laughter from across the table. He pursed his lips, eyes fixated on his own plate, wrinkling his nose in a haughty manner. A sharp poke into his ribcage soon made him jolt, and he looked up, eyes flickering to search for the perpetrator before his eyes settled on George… or Fred… he still could not tell the difference after fourteen years of being their brother.

“What happened with you and Ollie?” The twin simpered, propping his elbow up onto the table and sliding his jaw into the open palm, a gleeful glitter in his eyes.

“Nothing happened, I--”

“Yeah, right.” The other said “It is about as obvious as Ron’s crush on our favourite witch, Miss Granger--”

“There’s no need to bring me into this!” Ron hissed, voice hushed as he kept his eyes on Harry and Oliver. He paused “What did happen, Percy?”

Percy huffed, rolling his eyes “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Okay, so seeing as you have no clue, George and I will break it down for you.” Fred preened, edging closer towards Percy, slightly shielding him from Oliver’s view “One day--”

“At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry--”

“Oliver shagged you and became your boyfriend” Percy almost choked on his own spit, opening his mouth to protest that this was completely inappropriate for a conversation in public, but was cut short by George interrupting.

“But then one day, you stopped talking--”

“Would you all kindly keep your noses out of mine and Oliver’s relationship?” Percy hissed through gritted teeth, his face going white, his eyes flashing wildly with anger. His eyes snapped towards where Oliver was joking with Harry, and his eyes filled with so much jealousy, they almost morphed green. He hated that Oliver was gently placing his hand nearer Harry’s plate and making the Chosen One go red with laughter at every word he said. He knew that they were close friends, what with being on the same team, but this was going too far outside appropriate behaviour.

Percy’s thoughts were shattered by Fred cutting in “What relationship?” The words slipped out before Fred could clamp his mouth shut. No such signs of guilt or regret passed over his expression as he struggled to keep the snorts of laughter pressed down, watching Percy shaking with anger. He looked across to George with a knowing gaze. They all watched in near silence as Percy got up hastily, the slap of his soles deafening as he stormed out of the Great Hall, unknowing of the several confused glances from many of the Gryffindor students. As soon as Percy had gone out and slammed the door shut, a flash of black caught Ginny’s eyes, making her stare across to the Slytherin table where Marcus Flint had also risen from his seat, hurrying towards the door.

“Great job, you idiots. Now he thinks everyone thinks that he and Oliver have broken up!” Ron frowned. He paused as Ginny nudged him “Bloody hell! Come on, we are going!”

“What for?--” George asked, a small smirk spreading across his face.

“To stop Marcus from going after Percy! Whatever the reason, it cannot be a good one.” Ginny whispered angrily, sliding out from under the bench. Her sudden movement made Oliver, Harry and Hermione prick their ears up and join the drama.

“What’s going on? Why are you all leaving?” Oliver asked, eyes flickering up at the twins, one of whom chortled with laughter and leaned in close. With a large smirk in the other’s direction, one of them spoke.

“We are going--”

“--on a small-ish trip--”

“To try and stop Marcus Flint from sneaking off with Percy to have a nice,long shag..” George finished, snatching his twin’s hand and dashing off through the tables, rather than facing the explosive Oliver.

After a second of the twins, slamming the door of the Great Hall shut, they were happily met with a tremendous scream of “WHAT?!” From the Gryffindor table. The realisation probably took a minute to register in Oliver’s head. Despite Oliver seeming to be a soft(ish) person on the outside, by Merlin, he really did have a vast set of lungs. As they heard the thundering of running steps fast approaching the other side of the door, they chortled and dashed off, caring to see how the drama would unfold. Oliver flung open the door, followed by Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny, and the five of them chased the direction of the twins, a direction which would hopefully lead them to meet Marcus and Percy.

Percy strode off in the direction of Gryffindor, ignoring the chatter of the paintings that passed by him, too absorbed in his anger to look. His eyelids were littered with tears that shone like broken diamonds in the amber chandelier-light, casting shadows over his cheeks. He swallowed the raw lump in his throat, his head spinning slightly, breath staggering. He breathed deeply as he felt a sudden touch on his hips, an arm slithering around his waist and pulling him close. Pressing his face into the other male’s neck, he breathed a sigh of relief, clutching onto the material. 

“There now, Weasley…” The voice hissed like a charm to his ears, seeping into his heart. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Percy sighed, squeezing his eyes shut, staying silent as Marcus continued to whisper soothing words into his ears. 

“O-Oliver…” He murmured after a couple of minutes, his word partially muffled by Marcus’ skin pushed against his mouth. Percy let his own arms wrap around the larger boy, sinking into his figure like water into a jug. Marcus did not move, but he did contemplate kissing Percy’s head for a second. Things like that could wait til later.

“What did he do?”

“Everyone is telling me that he is ignoring me because he wants to break things off.” It seemed so strange to be talking about his (ex?) boyfriend to said (ex?) boyfriend’s enemy, but Percy did not let the thought cloud his mind.

Marcus let his lips settle on Percy’s hairline, the rich wave of ginger curls tickling his lips as he kissed him, holding him tight. He did not feel Percy pull away, more accepting the embrace as if he enjoyed it. He let his hand drop slightly, massaging the crook of Percy’s lower back, the curve of his rear calling to Marcus’ hand like a beautiful Greek siren. Whilst he dipped his hand, sliding over the material hugging Percy’s arse, he made an inaudible sign of victory, rubbing the globe tenderly. They almost did not hear the rushing of feet towards them, and suddenly, they were exposed to an audience consisting of the twins, Oliver, Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione. Oliver stood there as if the two of them were a crimson flag draped in front of his raging bull-self. He gulped, hands shaking, feet glued to the floor and eyes wide and wild. He took one step forward, eyes glued to Marcus’ left hand pressed on his boyfriend’s arse.

“Get off him.” Oliver blurted out in a low voice, widening his eyes as he saw both Percy and Marcus draw apart slowly. They unpeeled themselves from each other; Percy looked shamefully towards the floor as if he had been caught stealing a cookie from his mother; Marcus stared right back at Oliver, preening with a boastful smirk.”How dare you, Flint?”

“How dare I, what?” Marcus shot back, his voice laced with glee.

“How dare you feel up my sodding boyfriend?!” Oliver shrieked, taking another step forward, ignoring the low mutters from the others. Even the twins stood there blankly behind Oliver, not sure how to react.

“I didn’t know Percy was your boyfriend--”

“Everyone knows he is my boyfriend!”

“You don’t seem to act like it recently.” 

“What in Merlin’s name do you mean?”

“Percy told me you both broke up.” Oliver’s blood froze in his veins. His jaw dropped. His tanned face paled. His eyes widened. They were filled with tears. He stared at Percy in horror.

“Percy?” Oliver whispered, trembling as Percy’s eyes stayed glued to the floor. He lifted for his head for a second where Oliver noticed 

Percy swallowed the lump in his throat, tears beginning to bubble in his eyes. He sighed, blinking them back before he spoke, his voice hoarse and strained “I never wanted to break up… but recently… it seems like we have…” He stayed where he was for a second, before he turned, rushing down the corridor towards the Gryffindor common room. Everyone stood there in silence. The only noises that broke the tension was the low rumble of chatter from the floor below. They all looked at Marcus. He stood there with a nonchalant pout on his face, giving them all a shrug once he noticed their eyes on him.

“You - little - bastard!” Oliver yelled, stabbing a finger into Marcus’ chest with every word. His face had gone white with anger, teeth shaking although he grit them together, pressing his lips together as if he wanted the pressure to smash them. “I’ll fucking kill you!” He lurched forward, grabbing hold of Marcus’ collar and pushing him back into the wall. The other yelped out in surprise, igniting the Quidditch rivalry-driven fury inside. He went to raise his hand, balling it into a fist, ready to slam it into Oliver’s jaw, but he soon felt his arm being pinned to the wall. Similarly, Oliver felt two pairs of arms wrapping around his squirming body, holding his arms behind his back. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had shoved themselves in the small space between the two captains, creating a mutual shield. Oliver was restrained by Fred and George who jumped on him the second after he went for Marcus. Ginny stood a little to the side, trying to compose Oliver with shaky, breathless words.

Whilst it would have been a lot of fun for the rest of them to see the Gryffindor and Slytherin captains fight to the (almost) death, they knew better than to let it happen. They were Gryffindors anyway - of course - they always do the right thing!

Oliver jolted against the restraint of the twins’ arms, flinching to get his limbs free “Let go of me this instant! I want to tear that arsehole to pieces!”

“That wouldn’t help you get Percy back anyway!” Marcus sneered with a bolt of laughter. 

“Why did you have to come in - a-and - take him! He’s - my - boyfriend!” Oliver’s face crumpled as if he was about to cry, but the twins’ kept their iron grip. They snickered to each other behind his back. “You never showed any interest in him before - the only time you ever spoke to him was to make fun of him!” He wailed. “I - love - him! A-And you took him away!”

Marcus shrugged “I had a change of heart.”

“Bull-shit!” scoffed George, his face flushing red.

“Oliver, you are the one who made him feel awful recently. You completely ignored him and went off to flirt with Potter!” Marcus stated, to which Harry felt colour rise over his cheeks, scoffing.

“You’re the one who made a move on him whilst you knew that he was still with me!” 

“Wait - what?” Marcus spat, glaring daggers.

Oliver huffed “Draco told me everything. He told me how you came onto Percy and said how you too were going to be meeting up more often.” 

“Draco - said - what?” 

“That’s right!” 

Marcus’ mind had gone blank with confusion and anger. He opened his mouth, but in his mind, there were no words to string together, only emotions that ravaged him. Without another word, he let out a low growl, shoving Harry out of the way and striding down the corridor, presumably to the Slytherin dormitories. He was going to kill Draco, no matter who his father was. Fred and George let Oliver collapse against the wall, sinking down to the floor, shaking vibrantly. The six younger students encircled him, not sure what to say. 

Harry knelt down, placing a soft hand on the peak of Oliver’s knee, the heat vanishing from his hands almost instantly. His eyes widened, wavering, looking for a sign of hope “Don’t worry, Wood…” He sighed “We will talk to Percy for you...He doesn’t really want to be with Marcus - he is a complete bully!”

“You really think so?”

“Think? Oliver, we know so.” Ginny gave him a sad smile “Percy is as crazy about you as you are crazy about him.”

Oliver nodded and the group slowly left. When they had gone up to the seventh year dormitories and knocked, and listened for a call, they heard nothing in the midst of the silence. They peeked inside, opening the door a fraction. The light was off and Percy was already in bed, fast asleep. They didn’t see the tear stains on his cheeks in the darkness.

Back in the corridor, Oliver let his head fall back against the wall, trying desperately to keep the tears from streaming down his face. He breathed heavily, staggering as if he was unable to catch his breath, shaking profusely. Every time he closed his eyes to blink, the tears bore down on his eyelids, making him wince with a tiny sting in the creases of his eyes. He heard the hushed tapping of footsteps approaching him and he opened his eyes, looking at the feet, then upwards, meetings Cedric’s gaze.

“O-Oliver?” The Hufflepuff asked, face creasing in confusion and sadness “What happened? Are you okay? Draco and I saw you storm out dinner after Percy, so we -”

“Draco’s a little bastard. He’s ruined everything.”

“Draco did? What did he do?”

“Told me that Marcus was hitting on Percy, so when Percy left dinner and Marcus followed him, I chased them down a-and he was feeling Percy up and-”

Cedric’s jaw dropped “He was - what?!”

“-And then Marcus said that Percy told him we broke up and Percy’s stormed off again… s-so I guess we really are broken up now…” Oliver sniffed, wiping another tear from his eye as Cedric gently laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, Merlin... What are you going to do?” Cedric asked, sinking down to the floor opposite Oliver.

“I have no idea.” Oliver admitted “I want to talk to him…”

“Oliver, if you talk so soon after… it will just make things worse… don’t talk to him for a while-”

“The last time I did that, it landed me in this exact situation, Cedric!”

“Listen to me. Let him breathe. Let him realise that Marcus is nothing but a little … b-bitch… compared to you.” Cedric furrowed his eyebrows, looking Oliver up and down with a slight frown “It’ll work itself out and Percy will come back to you. Trust me.”

“Thanks, Cedric…” Oliver muttered almost inaudibly.

“In the meantime… I came to find you for another reason as well...Cho and Harry are going on a date to Hogsmeade…and I need your help to make her jealous so she will realise that things with me are much better… It may even help to make Percy realise how much he misses you and how awful Marcus actually is... So we need to maybe… go on a pretend date whilst they’re on their date.”

Oliver scowled, shifting away from Cedric, his eyes tinged with an irritated flash “Cedric… that is practically the opposite of what you just told me to do… and it is what got us into this mess in the first place.”

“Forget the forty galleons... We all succeeded in our own ways of making our partners jealous…” Cedric shrugged, a sheepish look coming across his way “Maybe a little bit too jealous…”

“Yes, I know.”

“Please Oliver, please help...It’s not fun anymore...I want her back…”

Oliver sucked in breath sharply “Okay, fine. Fine! I’ll help…” He paused for a moment “But I don’t want Percy or anyone else to find out, you hear?” 

Cedric nodded, brandishing his glee with a smirk. He shook Oliver’s shoulder with joy, grabbing his hand and pulling the Gryffindor boy up. “Don’t worry about it Oliver. You’ll be fine.” He sighed for a moment “Percy loves you.” he murmured with a smile as he began to wander away, turning his head to nod at Oliver as he left.

Oliver nodded back, blinking back his tears. He then realised that he was alone.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cedric and Cho have a chat, Cedric opens up to Oliver, and Oliver has a ...little... scuffle.
> 
> For my non-UK readers who may not know this: the word "fit" as an adjective has two meanings: a) athletic and b) hot or sexy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my beautiful readers!  
> Sorry I died for about a month (wow, time flew by quickly) but I have been working on something very very exciting! I cannot spill what it is just now, but if you follow my works, you'll find out soon, because I should be given more information within the next few weeks lol

“So,” Oliver asked “First question: where did you say that they were going?”

“Somewhere in Hogsmeade - I have a feeling that it was the Three Broomsticks - we should check that out first.” Cedric replied, ignoring Oliver’s quietly frustrated huff at having to trudge about in the snow. The landscape was blanketed by a thick layer of snow, which was then smothered by a brisk winter gale over the mountains. Cedric’s legs stung with coldness and ache from walking down from Hogwarts, his rather thin trousers flapping in the wind helplessly. Once they wandered into the Three Broomsticks, a sticky wave of sweat and fireplace-warmth washed over their freezing bodies. The place was crowded, full of alcohol-lovers coming in to escape the cold and warm up their own bodies with a pint of ale or lager or sweet butterbeer. There were old men, young men, groups of girls giggling on low stools by the windows, but neither Oliver nor Cedric could spot Cho or Harry.

“Maybe,” Oliver breathed, reaching up and unwinding his scarf from his neck “We should go somewhere else? Maybe they decided to go to another pub, or to Honeydukes? Cho loves it there, doesn’t she? Harry does.”

Cedric didn’t answer for a moment, his eyes gazing forlornly across the scene, grinding the inside of his lip on his bottom row of teeth. Oliver thought that perhaps he didn’t hear him the first time, too pummelled by his own thoughts, and opened his mouth to repea-

“No,” Cedric muttered in reply, causing Oliver’s mouth to swiftly zip “They’re here.” Oliver blinked.

“What?”

“For Merlin’s sake, don’t stand there.” Cedric murmured through gritted teeth, his eyes swivelling sharply towards Oliver and over to a corner partly obscured by a cluster of drunkards sitting at the bar. Surely enough, once Oliver peered through the wall, he too could spot Harry and Cho. They were huddled at a small table, sitting on low stools, enjoying the close proximity to the roaring fireplace. Whilst they were glancing lovingly into each other’s eyes, their cheeks were flushed strawberry-red, small smiles faint on their faces. Oliver then looked at Cedric. His entire face was gone pale, drained from the bright rosiness, lips pursed into a thin line.

“Okay, let’s sit down then-” Oliver reached out and tugged gently at Cedric’s sleeve, beckoning him to a nearby sofa. 

“Do you think that they’ve seen us?” Cedric asked as he sat down, keeping his eyes glued on Cho.

“Do you think that they’ve seen us?” Cho whispered to Harry, her lips barely moving as they continued to stare at each other. 

Harry gave a little shrug “I don’t know…Let’s pretend that we are talking.”

“We are talking.”

“Okay, let’s pretend as if we are having a normal, relaxing conversation.” Harry replied as Cho’s glance slid a millimetre to watch Cedric take his coat off and put it over the arm of the sofa “I wonder what he and Oliver are doing…”

“Harry, this is not a relaxing conversa-”

“I am just asking!”

“Okay, true... I had not even seen them talking before at school...Why would they go to Hogsmeade together?”

“I don’t know.” Harry shrugged again 

“I am just asking!”

Oliver watched Cedric watch Cho, who was watching Cedric, just as Harry was also watching Cho watch Cedric, who was watching Cho. Both of them felt awkward and rather embarrassed to be in their position, settling for glancing down at the table, the menu, their feet. Actually, both of them wished that the couple would just stand up, walk over to each other, snog, and then things would all be better again. If only things were that easy with Percy, Oliver huffed to himself, beginning to drift away into his own thoughts.

“Hi, Cho…” The words didn’t even register in Oliver’s mind until a second later, even as he glanced upwards and saw the girl standing there. Although her face had been red by the firelight, she now looked cold and lost by the time she had made her way over to the dimmer corner. Cedric, on the other hand, looked as if he had seen a ghost “How...are you, and...Harry?”

She gulped, turning her head to look at Harry who was watching the fire by their table “We are good...Good...Very good.” Cho paused, eyes floating down again to Cedric, a smile branching across her face “I didn’t expect to see you here…”

“Yeah, what a coincidence…” Cedric breathed. He looked as if he wanted to pull her into a kiss with the manner in which he edged towards her.

Oliver looked between them with wide eyes, not sure whether to cut in their cute little moment of not. He knew from their stares that they wanted to say something, or just kiss, but why weren’t they hurrying up and doing so already? This was extremely frustrating.

“Well, I think we will go now.” Cedric suddenly blurted out, standing up as Cho took a step back, blinking “I’ll see you...around… I say…”

“Yeah…” She replied before turning on her heel and wandering away back to Harry.

“Well that,” Oliver commented, “Was fucking dreadful.”

Cedric rolled his eyes “What did you expect me to do?”

“Talk like a normal human being?”

“It is just...I don’t know...Ever since we stopped talking… I hardly know what to say anymore…It’s like we’re...strangers…”

“You don’t say.” Oliver raised an eyebrow sarcastically, cocking his head to the side. “She’s still there, go talk to her.”

Cedric went on “Oliver, this whole… thing… it’s not worth it anymore…”

“Why?”

“Are you joking?” Cedric’s eyes widened in horror “Me and Cho, and Draco and Harry don’t even talk anymore, and if you haven’t noticed, your ex-boyfriend broke up with you. For Flint of all people! Our relationships have pretty much been destroyed because of some stupid bet…”

“I suppose.” Oliver lay back against the sofa, letting the bend of his back melt into the material. He sighed after a quiet moment “Are you going over to talk to her then?”

Cedric’s gaze wavered on Cho for a second, glistening slightly. He suddenly started blinking rapidly, and sniffed “N-Not like this.” He swallowed. Even Oliver could notice that colour was starting to rise in his cheeks and crimson branches were starting to spread across the white of his eyeballs. His shoulders jolted, then jolted again “I-I can’t talk to h-her like...this.” He sniffed again. He clamped his lips together. His face had gone red like a ruby “It hurts...but...I can’t talk to her like I have never met her before…I can’t talk to her knowing that I’ve thrown her under the bus for forty galleons…”

Oliver nodded slowly, turning to look out of the window.

***

For the last week, Oliver was forced to endure sharing a room with his (now) ex-boyfriend who was not speaking to him. If Oliver thought that being in a room with Percy during a fight was unbearable, it had not occurred to him how much worse it would be when his ex started avoiding him.

Oliver’s eyes flashed darkly, glancing at them across the courtyard. Flint sat in the middle as if he were a king on a throne, surrounded by his loyal and obedient subjects. He slung his arm round the back of the bench, puffing his chest out and laughing at whatever Higgs had just sneered. Wandering behind the walls, Oliver edged closer to the cluster, hoping that he wasn’t spotted; If he was, he would probably just make a run for it.

“Look, Higgs…” Pucey sneered “If you weren’t such a shite kisser, I would think that Marissa would have agreed to a second date…”

“She’s just having time to think abo-”

“Time to think about it?” Montague jeered, snorting with laughter “It’s been a week and a half, you sod. If she has not spoken to you by now, you’ve lost her…” Pucey rolled his eyes, his voice dropping, muttering something under his breath about Montague and his supposedly sustained virginity throughout their time at school “Hey, Marcus?”

Marcus looked up at him with a slight frown “What?” He asked

“A little birdie…” Montague simpered, ignoring Higgs’ scoff “Told me that you… may or may not... be shagging our dearly-esteemed Head Boy?”

“Not exactly shagging.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, firstly, I guess you could say we are dating...except for the fact we haven’t been on a date yet,” Marcus shrugged, his frown deepening, causing the creases in his forehead to dip further “We haven’t shagged. Not yet, anyway.”

“Yet? It’s been two weeks, Flint...You need to up your game!” Higgs laughed, his face contorting into a condescending sneer.

“Not my fault. I knew he was uptight, but that was obviously going to translate to him being frigid as fuck… I haven’t even been able to get past a snog and a little grope...He’s going to be forty years old and still a virgin, I swear.” Oliver smirked: If only they knew, he thought to himself. “It’s agonising considering Weasley is so fucking fit... That arse, I swear to Merlin.” Oliver huffed under his breath, gritting his teeth as his hands shook against the stone walls. How dare Marcus talk about Percy in that way?

“I never even knew you swung that way, Flint. I wouldn’t have expected it.” Draco said, who was sitting near the outside of the circle. He tossed a large green apple in his hand, a chunk partly torn out of it already. He smirked widely, his blood pumping with glee, knowing what he had done. Marcus had not even spoken to him about the night Draco watched Flint, Wood, Weasley,Weasley, Weasley, Weasley, Weasley, Granger and Potter dashing out of the Great Hall during dinner two weeks ago. Malfoy had partially expected that drama to be as a result of him, but he was not quite sure. He did not even see Marcus that night, having avoided him at all costs. Malfoy even went so far as to persuade the other Slytherins in his dorm to put up a locking spell in unison, despite some of them moaning that Malfoy should just take his beating like a man. For two hours that night, the whole 3rd year Slytherin dorm was treated to Flint screaming and banging on their door whilst they all huddled in their beds. None of them would admit it, but an angry Flint was someone you wouldn’t mess with.

Marcus glared in his direction “Why, Malfoy? Because I am not a bleach-blonde pansy like you?” He paused for a moment “We still need to have a little chat…” Draco gulped, muttering something along the lines of “Nevermind…” glancing down to his apple again in despair. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, so shut up.” He glanced at Montague with a wide smirk which was promptly returned.

“I-I have to go t-to...to class.” Draco stumbled over his words, getting up from the ground and snatching his books as the rest of the Slytherins snorted with laughter over his flusters. They all sneered “Goodbye, Malfoy!” in high-pitched, sing-song voices as they watched Draco’s retreating back.

“Does he know that it's already 5pm and no one has any class?” Higgs chuckled.

The others slowly began to get up from the ground, groaning something about needing to study for another of Snape’s evil Potion exams tomorrow; Marcus knew that he would just look over some things with Percy tonight, not that he cared anyway “So, you being with Weasley means that you get to go to the Prefects’ Bathroom?” Pucey’s loud voice overpowered the quiet murmurs “Ni-i-ice!” Marcus nodded at them, looking around his surroundings as they disappeared from sight.

Oliver strode out from behind the wall, fists already balled up, and chest puffed out in order to show off his muscles. He approached Marcus with a dark scowl, his face pale in anger. Whereas his whole body felt frozen listening to the awful conversation between Flint and his minions about shagging Percy (or rather, the lack of shagging, as Wood thought gleefully), his blood was now boiling. It seeped through every inch of his being, filling him with an unquenchable rage. As he stood in front of Marcus, the other boy barely noticed him until about two minutes later. Flint opened his eyes, noticed Oliver, and laughed as a twisted smirk formed on his face.

“Hello, Wood. How are you?” He simpered, sitting up in his chair.

“No - shut up - with all of those nice things. We both know you’re a little shit-”

“I didn’t.”

“Whatever. That’s not the point.”

“So, you’re here to try and make me break up with Weasley?”

“He has a name.” Oliver growled through gritted teeth.

“Percy, then.” Marcus huffed.

Oliver nodded slowly, not dampening his glare for a second as he scanned up and down Marcus’ figure “Don’t be an arsehole. You don’t like him. I did.”

“Who’s saying that I never liked him?” Flint shot back, glaring up at Oliver.

“Well,” Oliver sneered, fists tightening so much that they started to leave little peach half-moon dents in his skin “You hardly ever spoke to him aside from picking on him for his glasses or for being ginger or his family for...uh…” He dropped his voice for a second “Being poor…” Oliver swallowed again “You never called him by his actual name, only Weasley or that ginger bitch. Oh, and let us also not forget you shoved him practically every time you passed in the corridor.”

“So,” Marcus peeled himself off the seat and stood to his full height, about a half an inch shorter than Oliver. His dark frown was enough to make Oliver’s pride waver, making up for his loss in the height department. “Just because I act like that, I never liked him?”

“That’s a pretty strange way to show someone you like them?”

“Yeah, see I could have sworn Draco did practically the same thing when he was trying to ask Potter out… and look how nicely that worked out...I mean, last I heard was Malfoy ranting about how Potter went on a date with Cho Chang, but that is beside the point… It worked for him, so it worked for me.” Flint laughed, finishing off the sentence with a cheeky prod to Oliver’s chest, his face suddenly lighting up with a wide smile from ear to ear.

“The difference,” Oliver exclaimed, a splash of red coming to his cheeks “Is that Draco changed and actually became a decent person. But you, Flint, never change...You’re just a big, ugly, unlovable troll-”

As soon as the t word slipped off the edge of Oliver’s tongue, he heard a sickening crack coming from his face, and pain searing through his jaw. He staggered on his feet, toppling almost comically, and fell to the floor. Marcus stood a foot away, the smirk gone, breathing heavily. The whole courtyard was silent, save for the crunching of grass beneath Oliver’s shoes. Gritting his teeth, Oliver grabbed Marcus by the collar, sliding a foot behind the Slytherin’s and throwing him to the ground. Flint pulled Wood down with him, wrapping his legs behind Oliver’s waist and rolling him onto his back, where he punched Oliver in the face again. A crowd had begun to surround them, the cheers and jeers of the onlookers deafening in their ears, the Slytherins egging on their Quidditch captain whilst a gang of Gryffindors, including the twins, were yelling for Oliver. 

Whilst Marcus continued to straddle him, Oliver hitched his leg up through the gap between Marcus’ legs, drawing back and kicking him quickly in the stomach, sending Marcus flying. He soon had Marcus pinned, punching him in the mouth (which Marcus may thank him later for getting his teeth moved back into place) and laughing. As he lunged forward to grab Oliver’s neck and roll them over, Marcus noticed a pair of black leather shoes about a metre away from them which he thought were familiar. He turned over, throwing Oliver off him, and gulped as he saw Percy there, scowling.

Percy, in Oliver’s opinion, was doing his best Molly Weasley impression (indeed, it was a natural talent). He looked as if his white-hot face was going to either explode metaphorically or literally. He pursed his mouth into one thin line, lips almost vanishing from sight. He looked as if he had been sucking on a lemon for the past four hours. Once again, there was silence in the courtyard, save from the sounds of Marcus and Oliver scrambling away from each other.

“Get up, now.” Percy hissed through gritted teeth, a flame of the signature redhead (or in Percy’s case, wine-coloured) fury shining through. In his head, he was desperately trying to count to ten. Turning back to the crowd of onlookers, silent and stunned by the interruption, he raised his voices “Get out of here, all of you!” Within a second, all of them fled, even the twins, which made Percy really wish that the same thing would happen when they all were at home. His eyes shot to the Quidditch captains before him. Both of them had their heads bent, eyes fixed on the floor, wallowing in shame just as the tiny flowers and insects were swept about by the strong breeze.

“Percy, we-” Oliver started, his eyes flickering up to Percy, a red tinge flowering across his cheeks.

“Don’t say anything, Oliver.” Percy glared at him “Do you both have any sense of public decency to not act like complete idiots and be fighting? I will have to go to both Professor McGonagoll and Professor Snape and explain how I found the two of you imbeciles roughhousing. This is disgraceful.” Marcus opened his mouth to apologise but a glare from Oliver stopped him before he could speak, not wanting to enrage Percy even more “As Quidditch captains, you act as role models to the younger years, and you both, under no circumstances, should behave like this. For Merlin’s sake, set an example.” He huffed.

“Sorry, Wea-Percy.” Marcus muttered, swallowing. Oliver followed a second after, looking sheepishly up at the Head Boy.

“Thank you,” Percy sighed, feeling his shoulders loosen slightly “Now, what were you fighting about?” Oliver murmured something, too quiet for Percy to hear. Percy frowned “Please speak up, Oliver.”

“I said...that we were fighting over you, and how Marcus doesn’t actually like you, he really just wants to get one over on me and-”

“That’s bullshit, Wood.” Marcus snorted “I do like you, Percy…”

“Oliver…” Percy sighed softly. His whole body drooped, his heart melting like a stick of butter in the sun “Marcus and I are together now...Please...for both you and us, stop.”

“I can’t!” He exclaimed “Percy, please...I love you…”

“If you love me,” Percy sucked in breath sharply, gaze falling to the ground “Then you’ll leave Marcus and I alone…”

“See?” Marcus sneered, moving to Percy’s side swiftly, looping an arm around his waist “You’ve got your answer.” He laughed “Tough luck, mate.” A sharp glare from Percy made the smirk vanish, zipping his mouth shut.

“Fine,” Oliver shrugged, staring at Percy “I’ll leave you two to get on with it.” He lingered there for a minute. He stood there, as if his feet were frozen to the ground among the flowers. He could feel nothing but the tears building in his eyes. He took a long breath. He exhaled. Turning around, Oliver stalked off, almost running if there hadn’t been a humiliating burn in the back of his neck.

Percy glanced at Marcus, his hand slinking into the Slytherin’s palm. Together, they watched Oliver retreating back melt into the crowd of black robes on the other side of the courtyard. “Please don’t start anything…” He whispered so quietly that Marcus had to bend down slightly and strain his ears to hear what he was saying. Marcus saw the glassy glint of light wavering in Percy’s sea-green eyes as tears threatened to spill down his pale cheeks. “Please don’t fight anymore - I don’t - I don’t want all this drama - especially over me.”

“I couldn’t help it, Weasley.” Marcus muttered, furrowing his brows “He started it.”

“You don’t need to end it, for Merlin’s sake.” Percy nipped his lip gently. “He’s just being angry - needs to let it out.”

“Fine, fine…” He huffed “Come on, I’ll walk you back to Gryffindor Tower.”


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, it's all coming together now...actually, it's more collapsing together now...

Harry picked at the end of the sleeve of his black robe, letting his fingernail slide off the edge and land on his pale wrist gently. Next to him, Cho kept her eyes fixed on the floor, watching in boredom as an ant, a tiny black dot a metre away, scuttled across the irradiated stones. It clambered into a ditch of beige sand and vanished through a crack in the wall, never to be seen again. Cho wished she could disappear as easily as that. Glancing back at Harry, she started to speak.

“Harry, I know that--”

Harry interjected suddenly “I know what you’re going to say.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t want...anything to happen between us either. Is that what you were going to say?”

“Yes…” Cho sighed, her blank pupils wavering in the dim light. “It’s just...this is...this is stupid…” Seeing Harry look at her with a blank expression, she took a split-second before they both burst into a wave of laughter. “There was...There was no point to all of this.”

“Yeah, it’s been nice...but… let’s be honest...I like Draco and you like Cedric.” Harry’s chuckles soon faded until they were left looking at each other forlornly. He reached out with one hand, halting it as soon as he saw her edge away, but still took her hand. It was small, slender and her creamy skin has grown a little dry in the white cracks and crevices at the turn of her wrist. Her skin glowed caramel in the dim amber light, highlighting the small blemishes. Harry wasn’t paying attention to that. His fingers slid over the bumps of arteries on her wrists, letting his index finger rest there. He looked up at her eyes, watching how the wide coffee-brown irises twinkled with light. He felt the slow, steady pump of blood beneath the epidermis of his fingertips until his hand retreated back to his side. “Go and find Cedric - now - and tell him that you love him. It doesn’t matter whatever happened over these past few weeks - but - you deserve to be together.”

“What about Draco?” Cho asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Harry shrugged “I’m...I don’t want to see him right now…”

Cho nodded “I don’t know if I am even ready to see Cedric...maybe I’ll wait a bit...It’s going to feel strange being back with him.”

“But it’s ever stranger being together with you when it’s clear you don’t like me like you like him.”

Cho nodded, again. Her eyes floated down to the floor again, where another ant (she wasn’t sure if it was the same one as before) had crawled out, prowling near the cracks. “I’ll wait...a couple days...I-I think. I need to be ready for this.”

Harry glanced at her before heaving himself off the stairs “I’ll see you around then.” He sighed. He didn’t look back as he wandered down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower.

Cho put her head back against the stair above her head with a quiet groan. She lay there in tranquility, undisturbed and happy.

“Are you okay?” She didn’t even hear him approaching.

Opening her eyes, she peeled herself off the step, looking towards Cedric with a forlorn gaze. Shr shrugged, diverting her eyes.

“Yes...I guess so…” She sighed, still not looking at him “You?”

“I wanted to talk with you…” Cedric murmured, his hand sliding up to her shoulder “You know that I love you right? I will always love you…”

“Cedric…” She whispered “I love you too…”

“I’m sorry…” Cedric bit his lip “I want to be with you...More than anything...Please take me back... Please, Cho...I shouldn’t have been flirting with Percy…”

Cho nodded slowly, a grin branching across her face “I forgive you...You’re mine again now…” She chuckled, rather hesitantly. 

The two of them wandered into the Great Hall, where they found supper to be going on, slipping into their seats almost unnoticed. 

Draco had noticed Cho sitting down, but he furrowed his eyebrows when he noticed that neither of them were looking at each other. Sure, he had felt a pang of sadness when he and Harry had seemed to have taken a break...they had not spoken in over a week...which gave them both the hint...but Draco knew that Harry would always come back to him. No matter what he did, Harry was always his...even if he had been flirting with Cho. Harry hardly noticed this flirting anyway, so what did it matter?! 

He ate in silence, thinking. His eyes shot between Cho, who was sitting with Marietta Edgecombe and a couple of girls in the year below, and Harry, who was obviously sitting with Ron, Hermione and the twins. 

He had quite enjoyed the past several days. He had watched the fun of the Percy - Oliver - Marcus love triangle, and had ignored whatever was going on with Cedric and Cho. They were boring anyway.

But would he risk another hour of Cho whining about how Cedric doesn’t love her (Merlin, he always thought, this wasn’t a production of Romeo and Juliet. Calm down, Cho.) for the bants? Of course he would. After all, who says he couldn’t abandon her for the night when he was sick of it? No one.

Across the room, Harry’s eyes noticed the flurry of platinum hair rising out of a seat on the Slytherin table. Draco wore a smirk, staggering out of the bench and wandering across the Great Hall as if he owned it. He was making a beeline for the Ravenclaw table, and as Harry worked out, he was heading straight for Cho. This was not going to be happening a second time.

A scowl sprung onto Harry’s face as he also stalked towards the Ravenclaw table, ignoring the ripple of heads that turned from each table to watch him. Draco halted for a second, a dazed look of bewilderment on his face, watching him. Even Cedric and Oliver had edged a little out of their seats. Percy was trying to peer between the heads of Fred and George opposite. Harry saw nothing but red as he leaned down, cupped Cho’s jaw...and...and...Harry kissed her. Cho’s eyes widened and scrunched up. Draco’s mouth dropped. Oliver gasped. Percy looked down at his food. Harry drew back, the crystal thread snapping, his eyes wide like saucers, consumed with blackness. The Great Hall descended into silence.

Silent for a second before Cedric stormed up to Harry, his face drained of colour. Harry barely noticed his furious expression before the stone floor slapped against his arse and back. A wave of “Ooh”s rippled across the hall as Cedric turned on his heel and strode out through the double doors at the back. Everyone’s noise faded, silence hanging over the whole room, save for the clatter of someone’s knife hitting their plate. 

Harry peeled his back off the ground, gritting his teeth as a sharp pain soared through the small of his back. He glanced up. Slate-grey collided with deep emerald-green as Draco stood over him. Harry looked down at the floor. He couldn’t even look his boyfriend in the eyes. Without a word, Draco let out a low sigh and stalked away from him. Peering up through the rows of students, Harry could make out the blonde boy wandering down to the middle of the Gryffindor table, halting, and grabbing Oliver by the shoulder. Oliver stumbled for a second over his own two feet as he was heaved off the bench, his arms frantically waving like a tree caught in a gale as he regained his balance. Together, Draco hauled him through the entrance, crashing out of the doors with a tremendous clamour.

In a flash of black and red and blue, Harry’s eyes darted between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables as Cho and Percy stood up almost simultaneously. Neither glanced at each other, nor at Harry, as they too hurried out of the hall, followed closely behind by Harry. As the door swung shut behind him, his ears pricking up at the growing rumble of low chatter.

He caught up to where Percy and Cho were striding down the corridor, not speaking to each other. In a flash of a glance, Cho saw Harry following them and her whole face flushed in fury.

“Why on earth would ya kiss me? Are yuh crazy?” Cho snapped. Even Percy turned his head slightly to listen into their conversation. Even his dark sea-green eyes flashed with excitement and adrenaline.

“I-I...I don’t know! I just...I couldn’t bear seeing him try and flirt with you again…” Harry stammered, his cheeks burning. He gulped, glancing between Cho and Percy.

“I had just talked to him and-”

“You told me you were going to wait!-”

“That wouldn’t have made it any better!”

“W-Well,”Harry exclaimed, “I’m sorry, but at that moment...it was the only thing I could think of...It didn’t occur to me that...you and Cedric had already gotten back together…” He sighed, grinding his bottom lip against the row of his teeth “Well, I can’t bloody keep track of who’s together and who’s broken up. It’s not my fault that Oliver started talking to me and went and broke up with Per-” Percy shot him a glare. “What? It’s true! If Draco hadn’t started talking to you, you and Cedric wouldn’t have split, and if-”

“If Cedric hadn’t been talking to me, Oliver wouldn’t have tried to flirt with you more…” Percy finished “I thought this was strange...It looked too strange not to be...set up…” He breathed through gritted teeth.

“You think it was organised by the three of them?”

“It makes sense, does it not?” Percy huffed, keeping his eyes fixated on where he noticed Cedric, Draco and Oliver huddling in a cluster by a wall ahead “I bet we are going to hear why now.” He hung back behind a corner, as did Cho and Harry, where they all kept their eyes looking towards the three boys, ears straining to hear.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Harry hissed, trying to peer round Percy’s frame as they all watched them.

“If you don’t talk, we may be able to hear them.” Percy answered.

Oliver leant against the wall, sighing loudly, his eyes darting between Cedric and Draco who were glaring daggers at each other. He stood up, blinking.

“Look, Cedric...It was a mistake…” Oliver explained, glancing towards him. 

Cedric’s face was drained of colour, but golden like honey under the firelight. His fingernails pressed into his palms as he clenched his hands, leaving half-moon imprints on his pale skin. His eyes were flashing darkly, furiously “You are right it was a mistake. It doesn’t change what happened!”

“Look, none of us knew this was going to happen.” Draco huffed “It’s not my fault Potter kissed your bird.”

“Well, he wouldn’t be kissing her if he was still with you, would he?”

“That’s not my fault!” Draco retorted, eyes flickering to glare at Oliver “It was Oliver’s.”

“Why-” Oliver gritted his teeth “-is it my fault?”

“You’re the one who came up with this stupid bet in the first place!” Cedric exclaimed, angrily pointing a shaking finger at Oliver “If you hadn’t thought of it, maybe Percy wouldn’t have broken up with you! He is probably using Marcus just to get back at you!”

Oliver growled, steadying himself on his feet “Don’t you dare say that about Percy! He is with someone because...b-because…” He was trying to push the words out but they kept falling down his throat. He gulped “Because he loves them…” He swallowed again “He loves Marcus.” He felt as if he had been punched in the stomach “He loves Marcus.” Oliver blurted out, eyes narrowing to hazel and white slits.

“What was the bet, Oliver?” A quiet voice, hardly audible under Oliver’s loud exclamations, cut in. Instantly, Cedric, Draco and Oliver’s eyes swivelled to look at Harry, who stood there in front Percy and Cho. All three of them had mismatched expressions on their faces; Harry was pale, lips trembling and eyes wide; Cho looked as if she would rather be anywhere else than there; Percy was frowned, lips puffed out angrily, but Oliver could see that they were quivering slightly,

“Harry - Percy -” Oliver’s eyes went wide like dinner plates “I-It was nothing.” Draco snorted.

“Oliver, tell us.” Percy hissed.

“I-I” Oliver glanced back towards Cedric and Draco, begging for some assistance, but it never came “I - We bet that...if we flirted with each others’...partner…” His voice had dropped to a murmur “Who would get more jealous…”

“H-How much for?” Cho breathed.

“What?” Oliver blinked.

“How much did you bet for?” Percy sneered, his scowl wiped from his face. He now wore the same expression as Harry did, drooping like a wilting snowdrop.

“Forty galleons…” Oliver muttered.

Percy gritted his teeth “I didn’t hear that…”

Oliver’s face looked as if it was about to crumple. He had flushed cherry-red, blinking vigorously “I said, forty galleons.” He replied, louder. 

Time stood still. There was silence. Frozen.

Cho was the first to move. Without a single word, she walked away. Cedic ran after her.

Harry was the first to speak “Forty galleons, Draco?” He stormed towards the blonde boy, undercutting him and grabbing him by the jumper neck “Is that all you thought our relationship was worth, Malfoy?” Draco’s mouth hung open, shaking his head roughly. After a second, his fingers uncurled, letting Draco slump against the wall. He too, then stormed away. Draco flounced off after him with a sigh.

Oliver looked at Percy. Percy looked at Oliver. Percy glanced down at the floor, keeping his eyes fixed on the beige slabs.

Oliver opened his mouth and spoke “Percy, I didn’t--”

“You didn’t mean it?” Percy scoffed “Oliver, don’t take me for a fool.”

“Percy, please...I didn’t mean for it to get out of hand…”

“What else did you expect?” Percy exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air with exasperation “That we were going to sit there and say nothing? Do nothing?”

“I mean, the point was to get you to react--” Oliver shrugged, but he was cut off as his back smacked against the wall. He felt the singe of pain in his shoulders as he stumbled and recoiled, his gaze flickering up at Percy. Percy’s mouth was shaking, his whole face morphed into a blotchy, crimson mess. His teal eyes shimmered with the firelight as tears bubbled in the ridges, his orbs resembling glassy ocean-blue marbles.

“Y-You’re an idiot, Oliver…” He finally breathed.

“Perce…”

“Don’t you dare call me that.” Percy snapped, his eyes wide and wild “I’m glad you did it actually- It has given me the opportunity to see that you were a waste of my time. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go find Marcus. Marcus, my boyfriend.” He turned on his heel and stormed past Oliver. The soles of his shoes slapped against the floor, rippling echoes around the whole corridor, tormenting and mocking Oliver even as they faded.

Oliver staggered into the middle of the hall, his eyes fixated on the sudden flash of black that disappeared around the corner. He sighed, the feeling of his exhalation pulling his chest down, making him feel as if he had been punched again in the stomach. His eyes fluttered shut, stinging. He opened them again. He was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CURRENT WORKS IN PROGRESS
> 
> The Two Triangles - Chapter 8/8  
> Just For The Bants - Chapter 2 (Day One)


	8. THE FINALE (Percy and Oliver)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE FINALE
> 
> Percy and Oliver have a talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! I cannot believe you guys have waited two weeks for the finale. I am so sorry, but I have some VERY exciting news.
> 
> But first, I decided to divide the finale into 3 parts. Not only would I be able to update quicker, but I feel like it is better to dedicate a whole chapter to each couple as they reconcile (or don't...). These WILL be shorter chapters - under 1000 words or so.
> 
> OKAY, so the news.
> 
> If you are from the U.K., you will know that on the 13th of August, we had A-Level results day (Yes, I am honoured to be in the class of COVID '20). A lot of us were really worrying about the whole downgrading debacle and rightly so, because as you may have heard/seen on the news, our grades were hit pretty hard. Thankfully, because I went to a private school (some of my friends who go to a state school were absolutely robbed), only one of my grades was downgraded from an A to a B. I was frustrated about this but a lot people had a much worse time to be honest, so I can't complain.
> 
> So onto the actual news...I was accepted by my firm (basically my dream) university! I am so happy because it is one of the top universities for my subject and I am so excited to go.
> 
> I really wish that more people had the same feeling of joy and relief on result's day because I think we can all agree that the A-Level students had an awful time, particularly those who didn't have the privilege of a private school education.
> 
> I think this is where my note should end but I did want to let people know :)
> 
> I hope you all are having a good day/night,
> 
> Love,  
> ChaiYan xx

“Perce...Percy...Please talk to me.” Oliver whispered, the cracks in his voice hinting tears rolling down his cheeks. Even in the darkness, Percy’s ears pricked up on the gulps and sniffs, blocking them out with a pillow held against his ear, facing away from Oliver.

Silence.

“Percy, please! I’m sorry! It was really stupid...it was a really stupid joke.”

Silence.

“I know you can hear me.”

“Oliver,” Percy eventually replied, his voice shaking as teardrops trickled off his face onto the pillow “I d-don’t want to t-talk with you.” He heard the creaks and grunts of Oliver’s bed sounding as the other boy clambered off it and over to Percy’s own bed. He felt the hot breath pounding against the back of his neck as Oliver bent over. He saw the silhouette cascading through the reflection of the moonlight from the window, slashing it into tiny pieces. 

Oliver sat down on the edge of the bed, watching Percy’s chest move up and down and up with each long breath. He balanced himself with one knee nestled against Percy’s back and one elbow bent, leaning on the headboard. Cautiously, he webbed his fingers in between Percy’s claret curls, and sighing. After a second, Oliver contemplated moving back into his own bed but after seeing how Percy didn’t refuse the touch, decided to stay. 

“I don’t know...who I-I love…” Percy muttered, his hand straying under his pillow, nudging his head up.

“Don’t you love--”

“Don’t I love Marcus?” Percy cut in, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know. I’m not completely convinced he loves me.”

“I think he does.” Oliver breathed, gnawing on his bottom lip as he stared at Percy, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

“I think” Percy murmured “He just wants to get one over on you.”

“I--”

“Oliver, I was jealous of you and went for him.” Percy scoffed “I was just jealous. Well done, I hope you get your forty galleons from Draco and Cedric in the morning.”

“Percy, please don’t be like that.”

“I can be like that if I want.”

“Percy,” He breathed “Even if…” Oliver swallowed, his eyes flickering upwards for a split-second “You hate me, I still love you... and you know that…”

Percy nodded “I know... but…”

Oliver sighed, his hand retreating to rest on his thigh “Yeah, I know…”

“I do hate you.”

“I’m not surprised…”

“I love you, Oliver.” Percy admitted, rolling over onto his other shoulder. Even in the dim light from the open window, Oliver’s heart froze at the shimmer of tears in Percy’s eyes, his breath hitching. “I don’t want to...but I do.”

“I love you too. I want you back.” Oliver said.

“I-I…” Percy tailed off, glancing up at him “I want you too.”

"What about Marcus?"

"Screw Marcus." Percy whispered "I'll tell him tomorrow. I just want you now."

“I’m so sorry, Percy.” Oliver’s gaze fell to the hand resting on his thigh before he looked back down at Percy. Slowly, he lifted his elbow from the wall and lay down, his face centimetres away from Percy’s own. Reaching out, he dabbed Percy’s wet cheeks with the pad of his thumb, whisking the tears away. He sighed. He edged forwards. Percy sucked in breath sharply as Oliver nestled closer towards him, lips dancing on the edge of Percy’s nose. Oliver wrapped his arms around Percy like a cocoon around a growing butterfly, feeling Percy’s chest dip in suddenly at his touch. Percy’s head dropped like a snowdrop into Oliver’s shoulder, his body jolting with sobs. The tears dribbled onto the sleeves of Oliver’s pyjama top, sinking through into his pale skin.

Percy lifted his face off Oliver’s shoulder, his hands floating towards Oliver's jaw as he let one of his legs wrap around Oliver’s waist. He could feel his own breath bouncing off Oliver’s lips as he edged closer to the other. His mouth captured Oliver’s in a kiss, melting into the heat, limbs sliding over and under each other. Despite Percy’s heart racing into oblivion, he still had glassy trails fresh on his cheeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment something nice if you liked this chapter! I have not written properly in prose for a while so I would love some feedback.


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